Miles Away
by sofaritsalright
Summary: What if Rory had accepted Jess' invite to go away with him instead of staying behind and leaving him in the dust? How different would life had been for the two? [Literati. Takes place after 4x21.]
1. Prologue

**A/N:** Hello, readers! So, I got an idea for a second Literati fix and it starts in 4x21 when Jess went to visit Rory at Yale. I needed to re-write the scene a bit, just so you know. Also, remember to favorite, follow, and review! Enjoy!

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Jess felt as if he had completely lost his mind after today's events. He was in a foggy haze of all the love and relationship banter he had to endure all day long. He wouldn't admit it, but he was happy for his mom. She did look happier than she had his entire life, after all. Before he knew it, he was thinking about all the lovey-dovey relationship crap that Luke had gotten him. He didn't even know why he bothered to read the dumb books in the first place. You Deserve Love. You're Not Alone. The whole thing made him sick to his stomach. He didn't exactly realize what he was doing on the drive home, but he seemed to have taken the wrong turn. It had taken him precisely 22.8 miles away from Stars Hollow and he was now sitting in the parking lot of Yale, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. He should have just drove right back out of there, but instead, he got his hopes up and got out of the car to head straight for the dormitories.

As he walked in, he was almost on the verge of praying that she would be there. And she was. Much to his surprise, so was Dean. Once again, Dean was somehow standing in the way of the two like they were seventeen all over again. His hands quickly turned into fists the moment he saw Dean, but he gladly smirked as soon as Rory sent him away.

Rory had watched Dean walked out and turned her attention onto Jess. "Why won't you leave me alone? You won't go away."

"Rory—"

She cut him off. "What do you want?"

His eyes dropped to the floor, suddenly feeling insecure about being there. "I don't know. I just wanted to see you… Talk to you. I just…" He trailed off, not able to find the correct words. He had a world of things to tell Rory, but the moment he saw her face, his brain turned to slush and every word he had ever known wasn't intact any longer.

"What?"

He sighed, "Come with me."

The girl scoffed at his abruptness, "What?"

"Come with me," he repeated, this time his voice was heavier, knowing it was what he wanted.

"Where?"

He lifted his arms, unsure of everything. This felt sudden to her, but it had been sitting in the back of his head for months now. "I don't know," he shrugged, "away."

Rory crossed her arms and huffed. "Are you crazy?"

"Probably," he admitted. "Do it. Come with me. Don't think about it."

"I can't do that." Her voice was full of uncertainty as she turned around to walk into her dorm, almost hoping that Jess wouldn't follow her in, but he trailed right behind her like a lost puppy.

"You don't think you can do it, but you can. You can do whatever you want."

The girl turned around in a flash just to meet his eyes. "It's not what I want!"

"It is! I know you."

"You don't know me!"

"Look," he grabbed her arms and tried to get her to keep his eyes on him, "we'll go to New York. We'll work, we'll live together, we'll be together. It's what I want. It's what you want, too." He stopped, amazed that he was able to get those words out and speak in full sentences, but the girl jumped back, making him grow more irritated by the moment.

"No!" She yelled.

"I want to be with you, but not here. Not this place. Not Stars Hollow." The words tasted more bitter than he remembered. He knew that he screwed up time and time again, leaving Rory in the dirt when he didn't exactly mean to. Stars Hollow and Jess Mariano were always terrible together. "We have to start new."

She started walking away once again, trying to clear her head for only a moment. "There's nothing to start!"

Jess turned around, needing to be face-to-face with her. "But you're packed, your stuff is all in boxes — it's perfect. You're ready and I'm ready. I'm ready for this. You can count on me now. I know you couldn't count on me before, but you can now. _You can_."

"No," she said once more, making Jess shift once more.

"Look, you know we're supposed to be together. I knew it the first time I saw you two years ago and you know it too."

He finally stopped and waited for an actual answer. If she was going to say no once more, he promised himself that he'd leave it alone and walk right out the door. He didn't need the rejection. He may have deserved it for all that he had done to her in the past, but that doesn't mean it made him feel any better.

Rory sat down on some boxes and let out a sigh. "Okay," she spoke softly.

Jess did a double-take and repeated her. "Okay?"

Rory nodded slowly, still full of apprehension. "Okay. Let's do it. Let's go. Let's go to New York."

The boys face softened and his heart started pounding harder than ever before. He didn't think that this would work. He was sure that she'd kick him out of the dorm and leave him on his ass. He toward over her with a genuine smile on his face. "You're sure?"

"I'm sure," she confirmed. The girl stood up and wrapped her arms around him. It was a weird feeling, but she was trying her hardest not to think about it like he had said earlier. This was going to be different. It was probably going to be tough, but she was all in and so was he for once.


	2. One

**A/N:** Wow, hello to all of you lovely readers. Thank you for all of the awesome follows and favorites over the past couple of days. I would have posted the first official chapter sooner, but I've been a little tired and stressed lately. This chapter's a bit short, but I assure you the next ones won't be! Please do the great thing and keep me a happy little writer by reviewing, following, and favoriting!

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The pair walked out to the dark and deserted dormitory parking lot with boxes stacked in their arms. The girl found it bizarre that she was the last one to leave campus before summer, even though she had been just as eager as everyone else in the school. She let out a quiet sigh as she glanced over at Jess; neither of them had said a word since agreeing to go away together. It seemed that neither of them had anything further to say. Instead of letting the silence drag on for much longer, Rory set the books down in the middle of the parking lot and waited for Jess to turn around. Rory crossed her arms as a doubtful look appeared on her face. "You didn't think this through, did you?" Though she already knew the answer, she wanted to hear it come from him. He said that he was reliable now, that she could count on him, but this plan seemed to be failing already after ten minutes.

Jess placed the boxes down and gave a weak shrug while placing a hand on the back of his neck. "I didn't exactly think that you'd say yes," he admitted. "Just give me a few minutes to figure it out." As soon as he saw Rory's jaw drop to speak once again, he cut her off before she started on her first syllable. He stuck his index finger in her direction with a stern look on his face. "_Don't_ start second guessing things." He picked the boxes back up and turned around on his heel, heading back to his car.

Rory groaned and went after him, abandoning her possessions behind her. "Jess," she stepped in front of him, making sure they were making eye contact, "I'm not leaving without telling my mom."

The boy nodded and pursed his lips. "I knew you were going to say that." She gave him a confused look. "Like I said, I _know_ you."

The brunette glimpsed at the ground as a smile grew on her face. He was right. She didn't really want him to be right, but he was. Jess had always surprised her like that. He remembered every small detail and noticed every unimportant thing about her life. Dean could be like that also, but Jess was always different. There was something alluring about him that she still couldn't quite put her finger on. It could have easily been the mysterious bullshit he managed to pull off with a crooked trademarked smirk instead of words, she thought, but she wasn't sure.

After placing the final boxes in her car, she saw him walking over towards her out of the corner of her eye. "I figured it out."

"A plan?" She raised her eyebrows, intrigued that he had evaluated everything so quickly.

"You look surprised," he noted.

Rory leaned up against her car and waited for the actual answer.

"As much as I hate saying these words, we should go back to Stars Hollow for a couple days." He made a face as he choked out the town name. He always looked as if he had tasted something toxically bitter after mentioning it. "We can take a day just to visit the city and look around for a suitable place along with jobs. I have some money saved up, so setting up rent shouldn't be too difficult." He shook his head, knowing it sounded ridiculous, but it was the only plan he could come up with on such short notice. His face dropped as he fixed his eyes on the pavement. "This isn't going to be easy," he warned her. "You do know that, right?"

Rory slowly nodded her head. She wasn't even sure if she was up for the task, but nothing seemed too bad when she was with Jess. If he didn't think they could make it work, then she wouldn't have agreed to anything in the first place. "I know, but we'll make this work." Her tone was reassuring, making Jess look up at her with a grin.

He closed the space between them, placing his hands on her shoulders and kissing her forehead. "I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking that now."


	3. Two

**A/N:** Hello again! Thank you all for the follows and favorites. Please continue doing that, along with reviews because those things keep me happy. Also, I did re-write a little more of that episode just to keep the story going, so obviously it's not going to be what you may remember. Sorry about that! I promise this fic will get a lot better in the upcoming chapters. Stay tuned!

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The pair drove back to Stars Hollow, Jess following Rory on the dark streets with nothing but dread tugging at his brain. He should have been happy and he kept telling himself that, but even The Strokes couldn't let him get over the fact that he'd be going back to a place that he hated. While the place was too _Pleasantville_ for Jess to comprehend most of the time, he hated it more because of all the bad things that had happened while he still lived there. The worst being that he hurt Rory — took off without a warning, a phone call, or even a goodbye. The least he could have done was leave a lousy letter explaining why it had to be done, but back then he didn't want to go through the hassle, he just wanted to get as far away from that place as he could.

He groaned and rolled his eyes as they pulled into the small town. He thought about honking his horn at Rory to pull over to Luke's, but instead he flashed his lights, not wanting to get into it with Taylor at three o'clock in the morning. (Taylor was another terrible thing about Stars Hollow in Jess' mind.)

As he pulled his car on the street outside Luke's, the girl rolled down her window to look at him. "Coffee?" He asked and pointed towards the diner. It may have been the early hours of the morning, but he knew she'd refuse the offer. Without a word, she turned off the car and ran over by him as Jess pounded on the door, hoping like crazy that Luke would hear it.

The lights came on and the pair waited anxiously to be let inside. Much to their surprise, it wasn't Luke who unlocked the door for them. Instead, it was Lorelai wearing what looked exactly like one of Luke's flannel shirts. Rory's eyes widened at the sighed while Jess covered his eyes. "Oh my God, mom!" Rory whispered, her face redder than her mothers from the embarrassment.

"I didn't expect it to be you two," Lorelai admitted as Luke raced down the steps after her. Lucky enough for all of them, he was fully clothed.

"Who were you expecting at three in the morning? The Chinese guy?" Jess asked sarcastically, still trying not to make direct eye contact.

The two stepped into the diner as Lorelai rushed upstairs to find a pair of pants. Halfway on the steps, she turned back around and slid her head around the corner. "Déjà vu, huh?" A wide, yet humiliating smile appeared on her face as she looked at Jess and Rory.

"Déjà vu," they nodded in unison.

The moment Jess heard the door upstairs close, he shot his glance to Luke who was standing behind the counter with his arms crossed, unsure of what to do in this situation. "What the hell was that?" He asked and pointed to the stairs. His uncle did nothing but shrug at the question. Everyone knew that Luke wasn't much of a talker, much like his nephew, but this was a really good time not to be silent. Even his monosyllabic ways would come in handy at the moment. "Coffee?" Jess asked Rory.

"Oh, yeah." The girl nodded sheepishly and sunk into her bar stool, ready to evaporate into thin air. Of course, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened, but each time took Rory by surprise. The only good part about it was the expression on Jess' face this time. That was something that'd make her smile even on the grayest of days.

Lorelai strolled back downstairs, this time with more layers of clothes on, and scooted past Luke and Jess to pour herself her own cup of coffee. "What do you think you're doing?" Luke asked as Lorelai started to grab for one of yesterday's coffee.

The woman smiled and scoffed, acting like the answer was obvious enough to everyone. "I need to re-energize, duh."

"_Mom_!" Rory whined, wishing that Lorelai had an off switch somewhere for times like this.

"Fine, moving on." She said as she took a seat next to her daughter. "What are you two even doing here? ..._together_?" The younger pair glanced at each other waiting for one of them to speak up at any given moment, but instead they stayed silent and looked shameful. "Let's see," Lorelai started, "last thing I heard was that you two ran in circles chasing each other around the town before Jess said those three oh-so precious words before taking off yet again. Am I wrong?" She eyed the two of them and they were still silent, not even making contact with Lorelai at this point. "So what? All's forgiven now?" She rolled her eyes before turning to Jess. "Is this about the book?"

The boy's face scrunched up in feigned confusion. "What book?"

Lorelai let out a laugh. "How To Love When You're Unloved or whatever lame self-help book you were reading." Rory's eyes shot up at Jess, her face softened like she suddenly had an epiphany after hearing her mother ramble on.

He scoffed, growing more and more defensive by the second. "What are you talking about?"

The woman looked at Luke who was rubbing his face and staring at the ground. "I saw it in your backpack earlier," she told Jess.

"And what were you doing going through my things?"

"Ah-ha!" She shot up from her chair. "So you admit you were reading a self-help book?"

Jess froze for a moment, trying to think up a clever response, but his wit seemed to fail him. "Who do you think I got it from?" In anger, he pointed a finger over to his uncle who was just now tuning back into the conversation.

"Oh," Lorelai's humor dropped, "that explains why you got so defensive earlier." She raised her eyebrows in perplexed manner. "Who knew."

The four sat in silence, only making noises when someone's coffee mug would hit the counter. Luke just scowled at the three of them for drinking coffee at the particular ungodly hour.

"I think I'm gonna go home and get some rest," Rory finally said. She stood up from her stool and flashed a small smile at Jess.

"Me too," Lorelai copied her and Luke nodded.

Jess walked towards the door, "I'll walk you out," he told Rory. He needed to be certain that this didn't suddenly change something within her. He knew Lorelai had a big mouth and that she could openly mock people on cue, but this was the last thing he expected to happen. Rory sauntered next to him, not knowing what to say. When she got to her car, she kept her eyes glued to the ground, making Jess feel like he was going to scream. "What?"

The girl shrugged. "A self help book? Really?"

Jess rolled his eyes and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Luke—" He stopped himself and tried to calm down before blaming Luke once again. It was his book to begin with, but Jess was dumb enough to read it. "Look," he took her hands and closed the gap between the two of them, "it helped get us this far, didn't it?" He let a small, innocent-looking smile slip onto his face. Rory nodded and mirrored his expression. "It's no big deal," he admitted, "it is what it is."

They two started making plans for the next day and said their goodbyes just as Lorelai stepped out of the diner. "Goodnight, Jess." The woman smiled and Jess nodded at her as he turned to head back inside. "So, this explains a lot." She grinned at her daughter.

"Yeah," Rory agreed.

"The monosyllabic twins actually got what they wanted due to a self-help book." She tried her hardest not to smile, but it turned into full blown laughter with small chuckles coming from her offspring.

Rory unlocked her car and got in. "It's definitely not what I expected."

Lorelai got in the passenger side and tried to cool down, but instead continued to laugh. "I'm sorry, but this will never not be funny."


	4. Three

**A/N:** Hello, my loves! I'm sorry that I haven't updated much this past week or so, but I've been busy... and also binge watching Heroes in my down time, but I'm here now. This upcoming week is my spring break, so I'm going to try and write as much as I possibly can in that time!

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"_No, no! Absolutely not!_" That's all Jess heard from the inside of the Gilmore House as he walked up the porch steps the next morning. He and Rory had plans to go apartment hunting in New York that afternoon, but from the sound of it, Lorelai was trying to convince her daughter otherwise. Instead of knocking on the door right away, he stood there, listening to the conversation inside the house.

Rory groaned. "I'm going with him, mom. Nothing you say will change my mind." She and Lorelai had been at this for over twenty minutes now. She knew that telling her mother that she was going away with Jess would be a terrible idea, but it had to be done. By now, Lorelai had called him every name in the book and Rory was growing more and more frustrated by the second.

"Rory!" Lorelai snapped. "He's no good. You know that. You spent almost a year trying to get over him and now you want to start back up all over again? That's so not like you."

The girl scoffed. "He's changed," she said in a stern voice. "Believe it or not, he's changed. I can trust him. I can get through to him. What is it that you don't understand?"

Lorelai sat down on the couch and placed her head in her hands. "No one just changes out of the blue, Rory. He's going to break your heart all over again." Rory stayed quiet and Jess' heart dropped thinking that the silence meant that she agreed with her mother. "What are you going to do? Drop out of Yale?" She shook her head.

"I'm not going to drop out of school, mom." Rory's voice was now at a normal pitch, sounding more defeated than ever. "But, I do love him. I need to make this work. You have to trust me."

Lorelai looked up at her daughter, baffled at her honesty. She was twenty years-old, nothing that she could do or say would stop her with running way with the hoodlum at this point. Her mind was already made up about this decision and it broke her heart.

Outside on the porch, Jess smiled to himself. She loved him and that's all that mattered. He made a vow that she could rely on him now and that she could trust him. He wasn't going to screw up this time. He had left that part of himself somewhere in California and it needed to stay there. He was going to be everything the girl needed and more and he was going to be the reliable one, the one that she could depend on for all of her needs. After a few moments of silence in the house, Jess knocked on the door, hoping that Lorelai wasn't going to pounce him the moment he stepped in.

"That should be Jess," Rory told her mom as she headed towards the door. Lorelai didn't say a word, but instead frowned after hearing his name. Rory opened the door and greeted him with a loving smile on her face.

He smiled back at her and felt as if his heart was going to pound out of his chest. He never got what he wanted, but for some reason, this time he got the entire world with Rory Gilmore. "You ready to go?"

"Give me a few minutes," she told him, "come on in."

He stepped inside with hesitation, almost wondering if he should stay outside and wait. Lorelai never liked him. He knew all the reasons why, and it was probably because he was nothing like Dean. He smoked, acted rudely in the presence of others, and stole Rory away from the perfect boyfriend. All of that was part of his personality, though, and he hoped soon that Lorelai would find a way to understand that after a few years of knowing him.

Jess followed Rory into the living room and he stuck his hands in his pockets out of nervous habit. He looked at the floor, trying not to make eye contact with Lorelai who was sitting on the couch, looking like a disappointed mother. He had seen that face on Liz's face more than a few times, so he knew immediately that even saying hi would irk her more than it should.

After what felt like hours of standing there, Jess finally looked over to Lorelai and found her waiting for one of them to speak up. "So, uh... You and Luke, huh?" Jess scrunched his brow together at his words. He didn't know what else to say. He could've gone on a rant as to why he was good for Rory, but he chose to keep that one for a rainy day.

"You and Rory, huh?" Lorelai reiterated with her eyebrows raised. She had a stern look on her face, one that Jess remembered well. It was pretty much the only way she had ever looked at him since he arrived in Stars Hollow a few years ago. The boy didn't say anything afterwards, too scared that Lorelai would rip his head off if he even mumbled a _mhm_ in her direction.

Rory walked into the living room from her bedroom with her purse in hand and looked at the two of them. She knew that no matter how much time passed, things would still be the same. She remembered saying that if Jess cared about her, he would be nice to her mother. And he was. But Lorelai wasn't too fond of him still, making Jess act out even worse. She knew there was nothing she could do about it anymore, so instead she let out a silent sigh and looked at Jess. "I'm ready now." The right corner of her mouth turned up slightly to show a sympathetic grin. "I'll see you later, mom." She bent down to give Lorelai a kiss on the cheek - her silent apology for arguing with her just minutes ago.

The girl threw her keys at Jess. She didn't want to take his piece of crap all the way to New York and she also didn't want to drive there. "Seriously?" He smiled. "You're letting me drive? Of all people? Rory Gilmore, you must've lost your mind." He smiled as he watched her laugh. He was a more careful driver now, that he was sure of. "So," Jess said as they pulled out of the driveway, "I have to ask you something."

"Go on."

He sighed as he adjusted his seat at a stop sign. "How dead set are you on New York?" He wanted to make her happy, he really did, but there was no way in hell that he'd be able to afford some apartment there that wasn't with ten other people and he knew it.

Rory's face dropped. "Why do you ask?"

Jess was half expecting her to get out of the car and run home at this point, but he continued. "What about Philadelphia? It's a little bit further away, but it's affordable." He pursed his lips together and waited for her to say no, that she was out and it was a dumb idea in the first place.

"Philadelphia," Rory whispered and nodded slowly. "That doesn't sound too bad." Jess shot his head over to her, needing to see if she was serious or not. She had her eyebrows raised like she was thinking and a grin was growing on her face. "Let's check it out."

"Yeah?" Jess asked as his gaze went back to the road. In the corner of his eye, he could see the girl nodding. "You're not mad?"

Rory let out a small chuckle. "I'm not mad," she assured him. "It actually sounds pretty nice."

"I thought you'd be furious," he admitted.

"Jess," she smiled and placed a hand over his, "I'll go anywhere as long as it's with you."


End file.
